headingtowardsthestorm,notaway
fromit.
Uponthebridgeat2.42am,Ran-
dolphhadtosittokeepfromfalling
down.Thenthefirstofthereallybig
wavesrearedjustahead.Randolph
said,“Oh,myGod!Ahhh!”Solidwa-
ter– greenwater– wascomingover
thebow.
Theshipkeptgettingknockedoff
coarse.Asteeringalarmwouldsound,
andtheautopilotwouldslowlyregain
control.
At3.20amawaveclobberedthe
stern.Theshipveeredbrieflyoutof
control.
Thehelmsmansaid,“We’regetting
intoit now.”
Randolphsaid,“Hello, Joaquin.”
RuleofThumb
At3.45am,ChiefMateSchultzarrived
forthenextwatch.Hesaid,“Soyou
can’tseea thing?”
Davisanswered,“Yeah.If anybody’s
outthere,theygottabea damnfool.”
Theshipwasdriftingsouthofthe
trackline.Schultzordereda heading
correctiontotheleft.Hammshowed
upforhisturnatthehelm.Schultz
said,“Don’tlikethis.”
Ahugewaverearedup.Hammsaid,
“Holdon!”Theshipslewedwhenit
washit,andthesteeringalarmsound-
ed.Thewaveswerecomingabout
every 13 seconds,andtheautopilot
washavinga hardtimekeepingup.
Hammsaid,“Howmuchlongerof
this?” and Schultz answered, “Hours.”
Notlongafterwards,Davidsonen-
teredthebridge.Hesaid,“There’s
nothingbadaboutthisride ... I was
sleepin’likea baby.”
Schultzsaid,“Notme.”
Davidsonsaid,“Well,thisisevery
dayinAlaska.Thisiswhatit’slike.”
Speakingofthewind,Schultzsaid,
“Can’ttellthedirection.Ourforecast
hadit comingaroundtostarboard.”
“Itwill,”Davidsonsaid.“Eventually.”
Here’sa rule ofthumbfor the
NorthernHemisphere:whetheryou
aretravellingbyship,plane,caror
horse,ifyouhaveawindfromthe
leftyouaremovingtowardslowerat -
mosphericpressure– andthatmeans
movingtowardsworseningweather.
Davidsonleftthebridgetocheck
onthegalley.Immediatelyafterwards
thesat-Cprinterspatoutthelatest
missivefromtheNationalHurricane
Center.Itcontainedareasonably
accuratereportontheeye’scurrent
position.Schultzretrievedthepage
butdidnothavetimetoplottheco-
ordinates.
Thehousephonerang.Itisnot
clearwhothecallerwas,butthecon-
versationwasaboutproblemswith
cargoontheseconddeck– theone
theseasweresweepingthrough.The
shipwaslistingtostarboard,which
wasmentionedasa factor.Schultzdid
notseemtooconcerned,andsaidhe
wouldinformthecaptain.
Nosoonerhadhehungupthan
thephonerangagain.Thistimeit
was the chief engineer downinthe123
Into the Teeth of a Hurricane